


Crayons and Backpacks

by biscuitsandgravy



Category: Free!
Genre: First Day of School, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4450910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biscuitsandgravy/pseuds/biscuitsandgravy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka makes a promise to his mother before his and Makoto's first day of kindergarten. (Or, Makoto is excited to start school and Haruka is Not.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crayons and Backpacks

**Author's Note:**

> I'm much more familiar with kindergarten in America than Japan, so I'm sure that this will not be completely accurate. Don't worry about it. Enjoy the Babby Makoharu fluff.

The Tachibana and Nanase family homes were so close together that it only seemed natural that their children would be friends. Haruka and Makoto were close in age and family pictures would show that the two had been together nearly since the beginning. Both boys enjoyed spending time around each other, able to play or color happily for hours. This worked out well, since Makoto’s mother and Haruks’s mother also enjoyed each other’s company. But the days of spending hours around each other couldn’t last forever: the winter before both boys turned six, they were enrolled in kindergarten at Iwatobi Elementary.The Nanase and Tachibana parents had to explain to their sons that it was time for them to go to school, but they would both still get to play with each other. 

As time moved forward, bringing them closer and closer to the first day, two things were obvious: Makoto was very excited to begin school and Haruka was not. Makoto never missed an opportunity to tell his parents (and Haruka’s parents) that he wanted to learn how to read, write, and count. He practiced by counting items at home: shoes, flowers in the garden, and even the vegetables on his dinner plate.

“…Seven…eight…nine…uh…” on one particular night, Makoto pushed around pieces of carrot with his chopsticks, numbering them as well as he could.

“Ten comes next, Mako-chan,” his father reminded him.

“Oh, okay. Ten,” he finished, before picking up said carrot and eating it. “I’ll learn the big numbers at school,” he said confidently. His parents smiled at each other, glad that their son was looking forward to school.

It came as a surprise to Makoto when Haruka didn’t express the same enthusiasm. They were both at Haruka’s house, coloring, when the topic of school came up.

“I bet we get to do lots of coloring at school!” Makoto said as he decided that the fish in the aquarium on his page should be purple.

“I don’t want to go,” Haruka mumbled. His picture needed a bright yellow sun shining over the beach.

“What? But it’s going to be so much fun, Haru-chan!” Makoto gasped, dropping his crayon.

“I just want to stay home with Mama and Grandma,” Haruka pouted as he moved on to the green palm trees. Makoto resumed his coloring but pouted a little. However, all was forgiven when Haruka’s mother called them into the kitchen for a snack. As the two boys ate, Makoto began counting the tiles on the kitchen floor. 

When Makoto left Haruka’s house later that afternoon, Haruka’s mother pulled her son into her lap.

“You’re starting school next week, Haru-chan,” she told him.

“I know,” he responded, squirming a little.

“Are you excited?” She already knew the answer.

“No,” Haruka said bluntly. 

“You still have to go,” she said as she stroked his hair gently. “And when you go, I want you to try and have fun. But you also have one other job.”

“What’s that?” 

“You have to help take care of Mako-chan, okay?”

“…Okay.”

——

On the first day of school, Haruka grudgingly dressed, brushed his teeth, and ate breakfast while his mother prepared his lunch. His father helped him put on his socks and shoes and his grandmother hugged him goodbye at the door. Haruka and his mother walked hand-in-hand down the steps from their house and met Makoto and his mother at the landing by Makoto’s house. Despite his excitement from the other day, Makoto didn’t seem any more enthusiastic for their first day than Haruka was, and barely said hello as their mothers greeted each other.

Makoto gripped his mother’s hand tightly as all four of them walked down the stone steps to the main road together. He didn’t speak, but just looked at the ground as he walked. Haruka tried to point out a cat that he saw in the window of a house they passed but Makoto didn’t respond.

“Mako-chan is a little tired today, Haru-chan,” Makoto’s mother explained. Haruka noticed that even though she smiled at him, she looked pretty tired herself.

The rest of their walk was relatively silent, though the adults greeted neighbors (and other parents with their children in tow) as they passed. Eventually, the school appeared down the street and as they got closer, Makoto’s steps seemed to slow so that he was walking behind his mother instead of beside her.

At the school gate, other children and their parents were already entering and Haruka couldn’t help but look around. The school building seemed huge to Haruka, bigger than his house, and there was a garden inside the walls connected to the gate. Inside, the building still seemed huge, but the walls were colorful and welcoming. Haruka barely even noticed that Makoto and his mother were now several paces behind him.

Haruka’s mother lead him to a classroom with cubbies at the back. She helped him take off his backpack and coat and placed them on a hook right under his name. Haruka looked for Makoto’s name and was ready to show him where his coat should go, but was surprised to find that Makoto wasn’t right beside him. Instead, Makoto and his mother seemed to be stopped at the doorway; Haruka couldn’t see Makoto’s face but his mother was kneeling down next to him, saying something he couldn’t hear.

Before Haruka could go to Makoto and show him his cubby, Haruka’s mother knelt down next to him and hugged him. Haruka hugged back reflexively, but he was more interested in talking to Makoto.

“Be a good boy, Haru-chan,” his mother said, still preventing him from going over to Makoto.

“I know,” Haruka said.

“Remember what I told you to do,” she said as she kissed his cheek. She then stood up, no longer blocking Haruka’s view of Makoto. She didn’t seem at all surprised when he immediately walked over to Makoto and his mother, who were still outside the classroom.

It was now obvious that Makoto was crying and that his mother was trying to persuade him to go inside the classroom, a strained look on her own face. She looked relieved when Haruka appeared and grabbed Makoto’s hand.

“Mako-chan, you have to put your stuff away. You have your own space. I found it for you,” Haruka told him. Makoto didn’t even try to stem the flow of tears running down his face, but he also didn’t resist when Haruka pulled him inside the room. “See, here’s mine,” Haruka pointed out his own cubby. “And here’s yours. It says Makoto,” Haruka pointed again. Makoto still seemed to have no desire to do anything other than stand and cry, so Haruka tried helping him unbutton his coat. Makoto’s mother came to help, but seeing his mother only seemed to make Makoto cry harder. 

It took the combined efforts of Haruka, his mother, and Makoto’s mother to remove Makoto’s backpack and coat, since Makoto latched himself onto his mother’s leg and refused to let go. 

“Mako-chan, let’s go find your desk,” his mother tried weakly, but he didn’t seem interested. She stroked his hair helplessly while Haruka grabbed his hand again.

“Come on, Mako-chan,” Haruka tried to pull him again, but with no success. He could hear Makoto sob something that sounded like “don’t want to.” 

Somehow, Makoto’s mother managed to detach her son from her leg, and by then a teacher was coming around to make sure that all the parents were leaving. Haruka waved goodbye to his mother while his other hand firmly grasped Makoto’s. With one hand taken, Makoto couldn’t completely grab on to his mother, so she was able to hug him one last time and then push him away gently. Haruka noticed that her eyes were red.

As Makoto’s mother slowly walked away, Haruka pulled Makoto to the desks and helped him find the one with his name on it and discovered that his own desk was next to it. Makoto had stopped crying, but his eyes were red and his bottom lip continued to wobble. The two boys sat down and their teacher gave them both a page to color while the other students got settled. Haruka just barely noticed his mother leaving, her hand on Makoto’s mother’s shoulder.

Haruka noticed that Makoto started quietly crying again while he colored halfheartedly. Haruka sighed; it was going to be a long day. But Haruka would keep his word. 

He would take care of Makoto.

**Author's Note:**

> DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED on my headcanons for these tiny babbs.


End file.
